forum Any advice for gay and lesbian characters?

Started August 28, 2018 by @@Wanheda

tune

I've decided that I'm going to add a lesbian couple into my current story. I couldn't help it, the names were just too great together. Anyway, I would write it like any other couple I have written, but I'm aware that these couple often face things that I am unfamiliar with. I also know that there are many things that many in this community would love to see, that always don't shown. I have talked to a few people about it, but they offered me stereotypical things along with anime/fanfiction horrible advice. I'm not going to write a story where the main male constantly cries because he is submissive to her dominant partner. I'm going to avoid that rant. I'm also not going to write an overly butch girl, like i was suggested to do. I'm looking for good advice and hopefully someone I can run ideas by.

Okay so what I usually do, is I make them human.

and I know that sounds ridiculous.

But, really, look around. Where in the writing community do you see… a gay/les person with… actual personality?

Nowhere that I can see.

I usually run it by like, instead of being… Oh I'm attracted to you, wow, I put a story why. Etc. at the top of my head.

They were beautiful, they had wavy light-brown hair with mismatched gray eyes. Every feature that I read on his face rung 'familiar' to me. There was no way I couldn't introduce myself. There was just… a reason, you know? Sure, it was irrational, but… I needed to.

Or I'll do the classic, "I hate you" reason but add a story.

There he is. That man… Standing there goggling at me, like I was some kind of…. museum article. He constantly, a couple years back, tried to get me with every girl he met. Now, he's staring at my a** with his ungodly red eyes. Sure, he's a demon, but why does he flip the blonde hair out of the way of his handsome face like he's an angel?

I dunno if this will helppp…

orrrrrrrr give you any ideas….

or if this even makes sense……

(my etc is a couple of my OCs Ari and Zackary, who get together. Zackary is the resentful one who got together with Ari. If you'd like more details, then I will absolutely elaborate.)

Hope this helped

a little

M~

Don't make the gay couple steriotypical by making them allabout sex. Sure, you can mention they've had sex and things like that and make them cuddle, but don't make their relationship solely about sex.
Maybe focus a lot on the growth of both their characters and how that affects their relationship.

I responded to this in the LGBT chat, if you want to take a look at that

@Wanheda - I think that if your characters are interesting and flushed out characters, regardless of who they end up with will make your story interesting. I think that once you have the basis for your characters - that it will all fall together. But there are a lot of struggles that they could face - which I think would be the same for anyone -
acceptance from family, perception by society, there are internal struggles (how is this going to work…etc)
but it would be interesting to read something like the relationship is going great except his/her girl/boyfriend is obsessed with their work, charity, and is not working on 'MOVING FORWARD' in their relationship.
I don't know, unless you are focusing on romance continue to build your story and characters and let it flow naturally.

@Nouc That's exactly the rant I was trying to avoid. I can't stand reading a story that's literally sex and tears the whole way through it. Like, they have to leave the bedroom some time and they aren't going to leave it to go to a coffee shop and fight and come back home to cry and have sex.
@SaltyLasagna Thank you. I'm heading there to look soon.
@Penstorm Romance isn't the main point of the story, but with this specific character the relationship between her and the other girl is going to be a central part of the story. She's going to depend on this character a lot. Having deep backstories and traits can be easily overshadowed by a relationship. Think the Hunger Games, tragic story and great characters, people don't care about that.

@Nouc That's exactly the rant I was trying to avoid. I can't stand reading a story that's literally sex and tears the whole way through it. Like, they have to leave the bedroom some time and they aren't going to leave it to go to a coffee shop and fight and come back home to cry and have sex.
@SaltyLasagna Thank you. I'm heading there to look soon.
@Penstorm Romance isn't the main point of the story, but with this specific character the relationship between her and the other girl is going to be a central part of the story. She's going to depend on this character a lot. Having deep backstories and traits can be easily overshadowed by a relationship. Think the Hunger Games, tragic story and great characters, people don't care about that.

(sooo… I don't wanna be… that guy… but I posted here too. Did you not see it?)

@"Cat-Lover-M's-Moral-Ambiguity-Fork-Satan-God-Mother-Figure-Ocean's-Spy-and-Friend-of-Ellinoot." I did see it, but I really have no idea what you meant by what you were saying. I thought you meant "make them human" in the sense of normalizing the relationship. However, it seems like more in the sense of species. I don't write fantasy. So, it doesn't really apply to what I'm doing.

@"Cat-Lover-M's-Moral-Ambiguity-Fork-Satan-God-Mother-Figure-Ocean's-Spy-and-Friend-of-Ellinoot." I did see it, but I really have no idea what you meant by what you were saying. I thought you meant "make them human" in the sense of normalizing the relationship. However, it seems like more in the sense of species. I don't write fantasy. So, it doesn't really apply to what I'm doing.

No, I was saying, make them… Genuine characters. Don't have them be… cardboard is what I was trying to say. Sorry, I'm awful with advice. Good luck, though. ^~^

^ I agree with M. It's part of the reason I roleplay, interacting with other people helps me see how I can represent different people and believable characters in writing.

that was beautiful

@"Cat-Lover-M's-Moral-Ambiguity-Fork-Satan-God-Mother-Figure-Ocean's-Spy-and-Friend-of-Ellinoot." Oh okay. That makes more sense. lol.
@SaltyLasagna I RP all the time. That's actually how I learned to write male characters. Not to brag, but my boys are extremely popular. It also gives you a chance to try out different genre's and different character types. I'm telling you, I worked on a Rp and created a huge messed up relationship. We actually had a gay male and a bisexual male in that one. I loved that RP because it got deep and dramatic.

Dude I love RPing with guys

like so much it's one of my strong suits.

I love it so much, especially when you can just….

break away from everything else…

it's good.

clears throat Sorry. And, yeah, sorry I'm bad at writing. xD

Yeah, that's how I learned to write with male characters as well. I used to only write female characters, but this website actually really helped me out.
I think my favorite RP ever would have to be "Cafe Mindshaker". There were a bunch of characters that got drawn to a cafe, but once inside, they were never allowed to escape. They were taken care of well, but had no contact with the outside world for the rest of eternity, as a higher being inside the cafe kept everyone from dying. We ended up making a really good story out of it with interesting relationships. My favorite characters are all in that RP. I'd actually love to write a novel or novella from it.

It's great for stress. I like being someone else every once and awhile. I have a few friends and we all RP different types of characters and different styles. So, it's cool to find people who will do dark pieces, happy, violent, etc

@SaltyLasagna what is the website called? I need advice for how to do male characters.

Yeah. I love acting for the same reason. I like to be somebody else sometimes.

@SaltyLasagna what is the website called? I need advice for how to do male characters.

They said 'this website' as in Notebook.

@SaltyLasagna what is the website called? I need advice for how to do male characters.

They said 'this website' as in Notebook.

Oh frick, I thought they were talking about something else, I read it wrong. Sorry, all over the place today, this is the fourth? Maybe? I'm pretty sure? Day in a row I have been unable to get proper sleep.

@SaltyLasagna what is the website called? I need advice for how to do male characters.

They said 'this website' as in Notebook.

Oh frick, I thought they were talking about something else, I read it wrong. Sorry, all over the place today, this is the fourth? Maybe? I'm pretty sure? Day in a row I have been unable to get proper sleep.

Dude Impossible get some sleep. Don't do that to yourself.

I RP on Pinterest. We make boards for different settings.

Huh, I've never tried that before. Maybe I will if I get a new laptop (mine is currently broken so I have to use the school's laptop for everything, but pinterest is blocked on it)

That really sucks. I use it on my phone mostly. If you ever decide to get on let me know and I can see if I can set you up. I started using instagram too. Im still not used to it yet, but it works pretty well.

I can't connect to wifi on my phone, and I don't like to use too much data, so I mostly just use the school chromebook.